GIPSA and Farm Bill Update

More About:

Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are raising strong objections to the section of the House of Representatives farm bill that makes changes in how USDA can regulate the marketing and pricing of livestock through USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA).

In a letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee’s leadership, the senators along with six of their colleagues said, the House farm bill “would greatly limit the authority of the secretary to address deceptive, fraudulent, retaliatory and anti-competitive practices by meatpackers in the livestock industry.” The senators said the House bill would repeal the 2008 farm bill’s section “addressing these concerns, rescind existing protection already in place, and would limit enforcement of policy actions on many other aspects of the Packers and Stockyards Act.”